Homes, grocery store proposals for N. Causeway in New Smyrna

Friday

Oct 4, 2013 at 6:55 PM

By Richard Connrichard.conn@news-jrnl.com

NEW SMYRNA BEACH — Two residential developments, a grocery store and a public marketplace are all proposed for a prime piece of waterfront, city-owned property on the North Causeway commonly referred to as the AOB site. The city received those four separate proposals by its Friday 2 p.m. deadline for the 4-acre site at 160 N. Causeway. It’s the third time the city solicited bids for the property in the last three years. Similar requests for proposals sent out in 2011 and 2012 yielded one taker each, and both projects never materialized.The developers of the neighboring New Smyrna Marina, which is now under construction on the North Causeway, want to build a complimentary project that would feature 24 townhomes, along with docks and boat slips.“The ‘Caribbean Village Style’ project would have attached structures focusing around a pool area with a wide public access trail along the riverfront that connects to the North Causeway trail system,” said Tim Phillips, in a letter to the city dated Oct. 2. Phillips and his brother, Todd Phillips, are building the New Smyrna Marina project. Tim Phillips could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.New Smyrna Marina will include a marina with boat slips, 21 Key West-style cottages and a restaurant and tiki bar. Another residential development for the AOB site called South Bay was proposed by Rex Tibbs Construction Co. in Maitland. That project would include 18 homes with each home having a shared boat dock. The homes would range from 3,000 to 4,000 square feet and be priced between $1.25 to $1.75 million, according to the company’s written proposal. White Development Co. in Clearwater, which has built several Publix-anchored shopping centers as well as a free-standing Publix in Clearwater, wants to build a project at the AOB site that would feature a 28,000-square-foot grocery store. “The grocery store will serve the neighboring community as well as the boating public,” the company said in its written proposal to the city. “Our anchor is well known for its Deli and Bakery, thus able to deliver to those arriving by boat or those enjoying the riverfront and walkway.” White Development Co. is offering to buy the property from the city for $2 million. The city had the property appraised in August at just over $3 million. Rex Tibbs Construction Co. said in it proposal that while the cost to buy the land would depend on the site plan approved by the city, that a range of $1.25 to $2.5 million would “allow for a reasonable return to a developer.”It was not immediately clear whether the other proposals were to lease or purchase the site. A proposal for “NSB Fiesta Marketplace” was submitted by Robert Skelton, whose address is listed in Edgewater. His concept includes preserving the property as a public park, trolley service that would be privately operated and funded in part by area merchants, and offering up the site on the weekends as a marketplace for 140 vendors. The city would share in the revenues from the marketplace, according to Skelton’s plan. “This marketplace will offer a plethora of quality arts & crafts, and some food-related items,” Skelton said in his proposal. A panel of city officials will review and rank the proposals through November and one of the proposals could be selected by the City Commission in January 2014, City Manager Pam Brangaccio said.The Causeway property is known as the AOB site because city offices were once located there. The site is mostly dormant and is used as overflow parking for boats and trailers that use nearby boat launches. The land was front and center in discussions at City Commission meetings in 2012 when Wayne Heller, owner of the Riverview Hotel on Flagler Avenue, pitched a plan to dock the historic Delta Queen riverboat that he was in talks to buy there as a floating hotel. Commissioners instead decided to open up the field to all bidders by sending out a call for proposals, but Heller was the only taker. The two sides never came close to a lease agreement on the property and Heller pulled out of discussions to buy the Delta Queen in December.

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